


Stuck in love

by stuckyisreal



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-07
Updated: 2015-08-07
Packaged: 2018-04-13 12:40:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4522383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stuckyisreal/pseuds/stuckyisreal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Love was not their choice, but what else is there?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stuck in love

**Author's Note:**

> Marvel owns the majority. I only own OCs. Please rate and review any constructive criticism.

James Buchanan Barnes was tall for his age, so most kids never tried to pick fights with him. He had never actually been in a fight because no fight was ever started over him. He didn’t join them between other kids. Those ones weren’t his problem, until they were. James was walking home from school with a couple other boys and girls from his street. CLANG! CLANG! James turned around to the alley way that he had just passed to see what the commotion was. What he saw was three older boys, probably only a year or two older than him so maybe eight years old, standing around an old, rusty dumpster while they held down the lid. The boys were chuckling as yelling and thumping came from inside. “Don’t be cowards! Let me out and fight me! I can do this all day!” The boys laughed harder.

As James stood there, he recognized one of the boys as Johnny, who lived in the apartment across from him. Finally, James walked over to the boys, stuck his chest out, and said, “Alright, let ‘em go. Ya had your kicks and it wasn’t a fair fight. Go home now and I won’t tell yer ma’s.” The boys stopped laughing and their faces turned hard as their eyes narrowed . The boys marched out of the alley as they each bumped their shoulders into James as they passed. The banging inside the dumpster had stopped. “Stupid punk,” James mumbled to himself. He sighed and walked over to the dumpster. Opening it up, her covered his nose and jumped in.

“Why’d they throw ya in?” The kid next to him asked. James took a long look at him and noticed how thin he looked. He had short, dirty blond hair and was covered in dirt.

“They didn’t. I’m just some idiot who jumped in here to help some stupid punk who probably just shoulda kept his trap shut”. The other boy made a pinched face.

“I just couldn’t stand by! They were bullies and someone had to stop them from pickin’ on little kids. ‘Sides I didn’t ask for your help. If ya wanna leave, then leave. I ain’t stoppin’ ya.” James looked at him again and sighed deeply.

“Name’s James, James Barnes. I’m gonna walk ya home ‘cause I don’t think ya could do it on yer own without gettin’ into another fight.”

“Won’t yer parents worry?”

“Nah. My dad and ma don’t get home from workin’ til night.” The kid stood up and lifted the dumpster lid. They both jumped out and dusted off their clothes.

“Thanks. By the way, I’m Steve Rogers.” Steve stretched out his hand and James shook it. The walk to Steve’s place was full of talk about baseball and the Brooklyn Dodgers. They eventually arrived at a run-down apartment building. Steve walked up the the door and up the stairs as James followed. When they go what James supposed was Steve’s, Steve pulled out a key and unlocked it. A woman in her thirties was in the kitchen making dinner. She heard footsteps and turned around.

“Steven Grant Rogers! What took ya so long to get home? I was worried sick about ya! Didja wanna give me a heart attack?”

“Sorry Ma. There were these kids-”

“Aren’t there always? Are you alright? Oh! Who’s this?”

“Uh Ma, this is- um James Barnes. He helped me out on my way home”.

“That is so nice of you. I hope you don’t get into fights often”.

“Never been in one, Mrs. Rogers,” James said awkwardly. 

“Steve could learn a thing or two from you.” Steve blushed and looked down at his shoes. “You said your name was James?” Mrs. Rogers began to frown.

“Yes ma’am. Are you okay?”

“Steve’s father’s name was James, but I’m fine. Nothin’ to worry about”.

“Some people call me by my middle name, usually my ma when she’s mad but…”

“His middle name is Buchanan,” Steve cut in.

“Well that is terrible.” James just shrugged. 

“How ‘bout Buchy- no, uh. How ‘bout Bucky? I like that.” Steve smiled warmly and James smiled too.

“I like Bucky. Sounds tough. Well thanks for havin’ me here. I’ll see ya tomorrow Steve?” Steve looked shocked at that. “I’ll walk over here and we’ll head to school together in the mornin’.” Steve nodded furiously and Bucky left Steve’s apartment to return home.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 

Bucky and Steve were sitting at their desks waiting for the morning bell to ring and for class to begin. They were talking about the latest Dick Tracy comic. “I’m telling you Stevie, I’m gonna be a detective jus’ like him one day.”

“Sure you are Buck, sure you are.” Steve was sketching as usual. Bucky saw girls giggling behind Steve and shrugged them off, girls were always being weird like that. One of the girls- Stephanie? Suzie? Sarah!- walked over to them. She was wearing a dress and twirling some of her hair around her finger. She started giggling and her face was blushing.

“Hi Bucky! I just wanted to say that I think that you’re cute and I would really like to go dancing with you this Saturday night…” Bucky looked shocked at first and looked over at Steve. He looked uncomfortable is well, but when he met Bucky’s eyes he nodded. Bucky looked back at Sarah, she was pretty.

“Dancin’ sound like a lot of fun, doll. Plus they just opened a new dance hall open for anyone. Pick you up around 6:30?” Sarah started to giggle again and blushed an even brighter red. Bucky turned to Steve who was still standing there uncomfortably. “Actually, how’s about we pick you up at 6:30? Bring a friend and it’ll be one o’ those doubled, uh, double dates. You, me, yer friend, and Steve here.” He slung an arm around Steve’s neck. Sarah seemed taken aback at the request and looked uncertain for a moment. Bucky knew that look. He’d seen it before. He didn’t wanna go out with a girl who looked at Steve like that. He didn’t wanna go out without Steve.

Sarah smiled, the kind of forced smile that you did when your aunts and uncles asked you questions. “I’m sure it’ll be easy to find someone. So pick us both up at 6:30 on Saturday at my place. Talk to you two later!” Bucky and Steve smiled. Bucky turned and smiled at Steve. Steve smiled back as the bell rang and their teacher addressed the class. Bucky faced her as the smile quickly fell from Steve’s face. He went back to working on his sketch.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 

“This place sure is swanky, right Bucky?” Bucky nodded. He could see Steve sitting at a table alone, sketching on a napkin. The girl he came with, Kasey, was off by the punch flirting with some men in uniforms. Sailors from Fleet Week, maybe? Steve looked pretty upset. Sarah also looked pretty upset. “Something wrong, Bucky? You’re not really talking all that much?” Bucky shrugged her questions off. He went back to watching Steve.

Bucky never really got why girls liked him more than Steve. He was never really all that nice, not that he was impolite. Just that he never went out of his way to be nice to them. Steve was nice to everybody. Which is why that punk got in so many fights. Always looking out for other people instead of himself. Bucky worried that was gonna get him real hurt some day. Or worse.

“You know I don’t have to be out with you.” Bucky looked back to Sarah startled. “There are plenty of guys willin’ to go out with me. So maybe I should go out with them since you don’t seem all that willin’.” Sarah stomped off to where her friend Kasey was. Bucky stared off at her in bewilderment and sat down next to Steve. Steve looked at him and gave him a small smile. They didn’t need girls, girls didn’t make any sense to them. They just needed each other.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 

All the guys of the 107th kept pictures in their bunks. Photos of their wives, their girlfriends, their families. Bucky had lost the pictures of his family a long while ago. The guys liked to show them to each other. Argue over who was prettier: blondes, brunettes, or red-heads? Bucky always picked blondes. The guys used to joke over that. That there must be a blonde doll in that photo he has with him all the time. He laughed them off and said they would never really know. Every night before bed he would open up the picture and it would be the one of Steve and him with their arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders. They had gone to Coney Island to ride the Cyclone, but before they wanted to a picture. Which was a good idea since Steve threw up when they did go on it. Bucky would smile as he closed it and fall asleep and hope he could do the same thing the next night.


End file.
